A Sermon on Reading Spiritual Works
by Archbishop Platon of Kostroma
This is the commandment given
by the holy Apostle [Paul] to his beloved disciple, Bishop Timothy. The reading
of holy writings of profit to the soul is one of the main means of succeeding
in the spiritual life. Following the Apostle, the Holy Fathers also command us
to read continually the holy writings, since this is an important means to
spiritual perfection. Such reading is absolutely necessary, especially in the
present age, when worldly education and worldly habits threaten to stifle a
taste for everything spiritual, and false teachings and ideas are spreading
rapidly.
Brethren, without doubt you
read many books, but how often do you read books on spiritual matters? Such
reading is a respected, beneficial, and gratifying occupation.
First, the reading of
spiritual books is honorable. For
what reading can compare with it? What is the honor in reading history, the
works of philosophy and of famous writers of the pagan past? If true honor and
glory consist in feeling oneself near to God and His saints, then it is through
spiritual reading that we attain this honor and glory, for through it God
speaks with us; through it the great saints converse with us, and through it we
enter into communion with the entire Heavenly Kingdom. What an honor to a
mortal human being and mere creation!
God speaks with us when we
read the Holy Scripture, for what does it contain, if not the Word of God
itself? In it is His truth, His teaching, His commandments. But do we listen
when He speaks, or as we read? Regardless of when these words were written, one
and the same God speaks to us. "If we read the Sacred Scriptures with faith,"
says St. Basil the Great, "we will feel that we see and hear Christ Himself.
What is it we need, an actual voice or the One Who speaks to us through the
Scriptures? It is all the same. In Sacred Scripture, God speaks with us just as
truly as when we speak with Him through prayer." For this reason, prayer and
the reading of sacred books must be our continuous occupation. Pray or read
continually if you want to be with God at all times.
Why do we not want to use for
reading and prayer the time we spend outside of church? Why do we not want to
meet with Christ, to talk with Christ, to hear Christ? We talk with Him when we
pray; we hear Him when we read the divine word. Why do we neglect the Word of
God and read books which only feed our curiosity and are sometimes pernicious
and harmful? For one of the evils of the present age is unselective reading.
The saints talk with us when
we read their writings. Through their writings, they guide us and speak to us
and we, so to speak, resurrect through
them after their death in order to talk with them. Thus, we have no reason to
envy the contemporaries of Chrysostom, Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian,
Athanasius the Great, Ambrose and others. From the holy ranks of the Fathers we
may choose with whom it is best for us to converse. There is no better, more
joyous, and more beneficial way to spend the time we have than in reading the
writings of the Holy Fathers.
Finally, by reading books which are profitable for the soul, we enter into
communion with all the dwellers of Paradise. When I read books about God," says
the hieromartyr Timothy, "then the angels of God surround me." The holy
writings speak of the glory of the saints, of their blessedness, of their
virtues and ascetic labors, through which and read they were vouchsafed to be
inheritors of the Kingdom of God. We ourselves, as it were, become citizens of
a different world and dwellers of Heaven. We hear only that which concerns Paradise,
so that we may say, "Our life is in the heavens" (Phil. 3:20), "Ye are no
more strangers or foreigners, but co-dwellers with the saints and friends of
God." Is it not a great honor to enter into communion and talk with the
ambassadors from of the Heavenly King? What can give us more honor than
conversing, through reading of spiritual books, with the holy Angels, with the
souls of the blessed, and with God Himself.
Secondly, the exercise of
reading soul-profiting books is not only an honorable study, but also a
beneficial one. What kind of benefit
can the reading of other books bring? They bring the mere satisfaction of our
curiosity, the mere acquisition of knowledge. But many books, especially the
ones which contradict the teaching of the Orthodox Church, can bring only harm.
The Lord Jesus Christ, our Light and our King, says that ‘by their fruits shall
ye know them" (Mt. 7:16). What are the pleasant fruits of the books which
contradict faith and morals? They alienate us from the Law of the Lord, or what
is more, from God, the Law-giver Himself. They are the dwelling place of demons
and of their prince, the devil. They do not lead those who read them to light,
but only into darkness. They do not arouse the fear of God, but only more
success in sinfulness. These are the tares which the enemy sowed on the field
of the master of the house. These are the weeds which grew on the earth, cursed
by God the Master. They are lies, darkness, and deception. Flee from them,
especially you who are young, so that their teaching does not root itself in
your heart. Flee from the books which arouse the passions, so that you do not
drive away from yourself the Angels of God and the Holy Spirit. Flee from
harmful books, for they dry up compunctionate tears, darken the heart, and have
destroyed, do destroy, and will destroy many people.
But, When I read holy books,"
says St. Gregory the Theologian about the books of St. Basil the Great, ‘then
the spirit and body are illumined and I become the temple of God and the harp
of the Holy Spirit, played by divine powers through them I am corrected and through
them I receive a kind of divine change and I am made into a different person."
The great Hierarch Gregory says this about reading holy writings out of his own
experience. They completely transfigure a person, making him into a saint and
dei1ying him.
Do you remember how the
conversion of the Blessed Augustine was accomplished? For a long time the grace
of God had already touched his heart. He could not bear the torment of soul
caused by his sinful life and yet at the same time he could not leave it. He
both wanted it and did not want it. But as soon as he heard the words, "Take,
read," and had read several words, he immediately resolved to abandon his
sinful life. What gave cause to such a change? The advice which is often heard,
but is rarely given the attention it deserves: "take and read."
Therefore, cleave to reading
spiritual writings. It will lead you to that wonderful change which took place
in so many saints. Through these works we receive great and holy enlightenment.
Through them we learn of the path to salvation, we learn what kind of
temptations await us on this path, and about the means by which we may be
delivered from them. Anyone who does not read spiritual books is separated from
God, for he falls into former sins due to ignorance of the Scriptures. This is
the source of heresy and the neglect of the true spiritual life. Those who do
not read the holy writings walk in deep darkness and are like the blind who
have no one to lead them, who rush on and fall into a ditch. So let our eyes be
enlightened by the light of the word of God, for Sacred Scripture enlightens
more brightly than the sun those who read with love and who keep the
commandments of God.
Thirdly, what delight,
joy, and comfort there is to be gained through the reading of works which profit the soul. There
is nothing more pleasant than this occupation. The Psalmist says, "How sweet to
my tongue are Thy words, 0 Lord" (Ps. 118:103), "sweeter than honey and the
honeycomb" (Ps. 108). This food pleases every palate. This is the true manna,
the heavenly food, the angelic bread which was prepared by Heaven without labor
on our part, and which has in it every sort of sweetness and every sort
of fragrance, satisfying every man’s needs. What can be more pleasant than
this? If you do not know this from your own experience, then believe the
experience of the countless saints who found in the reading of the word of God
all their joy and the greatest of comfort. For how many times and how
powerfully it comforted the holy Maccabees amidst their great sorrows. Was it
not in the reading of holy books that they found their joy? The holy Apostle
Paul advises the Romans to seek comfort in the Sacred Scriptures (Rom. 15:4). With what did St. Paul comfort himself in prison? He asks his beloved disciple
Timothy to send the books he left behind, in order to use them during his
confinement in prison (2 Tim. 4).
Do we, with the saints, find
our joy in the reading of soul-saving books? Alas! We find our comfort, our
glory, and food in vain things. We read books which only feed curiosity and
which are often very harmful. The day seems too short for acquiring knowledge
and we spend whole nights in reading books, while nothing can distract us. What
can be said of those who spend day and night in the reading of harmful,
tempting books which smother faith and which arouse and feed the passions?
Leave them quickly, my brother," says one great ascetic, ‘so that you do not
surround your own heart with the diabolic fire, so that in place of grain these
tares may not be sown in your field and in place of life you receive death,
and... (why do I waste words?) that in place of Christ you accept into yourself
the devil. Do not be tardy in this, but save yourself as did Lot from Sodom" (St. Barsanuphius, p. 607).
Do not be lazy, O Christians!
Read spiritual works so that your soul may not die starved of hearing the word
of God with which God threatens us through the prophets. Remember that the
noble of the Queen Candace, while sitting in a chariot on the road, read the
Sacred Scriptures and for this was vouchsafed to be called to the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. Let us continually read Sacred Scripture, the writings of the Holy
Fathers of the Church, and other soul-profiting works. But when we approach the
reading of these books, we must first pray with all our heart to the Lord God
that He might open the eyes of our heart and that we not only understand what
is written, but do it. For he who reads and does not do what is written
despises the Divine Scriptures.
From Orthodox Life,
Vol. 34, No. 3 (May-June, 1984), pp. 30-34. Translated by Basil Voytan from A
Chrestomathy of Sermons (in Russian), Vol. II, pp. 316-319, Jordanville,
1965.
|